The Weasleys
by Alohaemora
Summary: A not-so-typical afternoon with the Weasleys. A sister piece to "The Potters."


10 July 2011

"Never again," Harry groaned, rubbing his temples tiredly as he collapsed into his favorite armchair.

"You and me both, mate." Ron sighed, following suit.

"Harry? Ron?" Ginny called from the kitchen. A minute later, she appeared, balancing two tall goblets of pumpkin juice on a tray.

Ron grabbed one of the goblets gratefully, and took a long swig, before guzzling the rest of it down with remarkable speed. Ginny snorted, rolling her eyes exasperatedly. She turned to Harry. "What happened to you both?" she asked, leaning down to kiss Harry's head. "You look exhausted."

"The Ministry didn't activate Floo in time," Harry explained, grimacing. "So we had to take the…Knight Bus," Harry finished darkly, glancing over his wife's shoulder to exchange a world-weary look with Ron.

There was a long silence, during which Ginny looked from Ron to Harry in disbelief. Her eyes widened. Then, quite suddenly, she was on her knees, holding her sides. Unable to breathe for laughter.

"What's so funny?" Harry demanded, quite miffed, as Ginny doubled over laughing.

His wife didn't reply. Wordlessly, she grabbed Harry's cloak in desperation, tears of mirth prickling the corners of her eyes.

Ron quirked an eyebrow, and flung Harry a look which plainly proclaimed, "How do you live?"

Harry simply shrugged, lost for words, and retaliated with a pointed glance in Ron's direction, which the latter understood to mean, "You did it for sixteen years."

It was several moments before Ginny was able to form a coherent sentence.

"So you're telling me," Ginny finally spoke, gasping for breath, "that Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, Wizarding heroes and the greatest Aurors of their time, met their match in a bus? I should tell them to include _that_ in your Chocolate Frog Card descriptions."

"It was a bumpy ride," Ron protested lamely.

"Not helping, mate," Harry remarked, shaking his head, as Ginny broke into fresh laughter.

There was a thundering of footsteps from behind, and both men looked around just in time to see five children bound down the glossy wooden staircase with cries of, "Daddy!"

Teddy Lupin followed them into the foyer, running a hand languidly through his turquoise hair, which looked as though it had recently been set to fire.

"Hi, kiddos," Harry said, ruffling his daughter, Lily's, hair fondly.

"What's wrong with Mum?" James, Harry's eldest, queried, surveying his still-guffawing mother nervously.

Ron lowered his voice to a loud whisper. "She's gone mad," he explained to James. The corners of his mouth twitched.

Quite unfortunately for Ron, this seemed to snap Ginny out of her good humor. The next moment found Ron sprinting down the hallway, Ginny at his heels.

"You better run, Ron Weasley!" Ginny shouted, swiping at her brother's cloak. "Teach you better than to make fun of me in front of my children!"

Ron's nieces, nephews, and children shrieked with laughter, as he dashed back into the sitting room before his sister, yowling, "Call her off! Harry, call her off!"

"What is all the commotion?" a feminine voice demanded, and everyone—except Ron, who was still cantering around the sitting room—swiveled around to see a brown-haired, brown-eyed woman emerge from the hallway, hands on her hips. "I'm trying to write a report."

"Afternoon, Hermione," Harry grinned, very much enjoying her expression of utter disbelief as she spotted her husband.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley!" Hermione screeched. Ron froze, eyes darting wildly, before they landed on his wife. "Is this the sort of example you want to set for the children? You are a fully-trained Auror—oh, for Merlin's sake—you just wait—" Eyes blazing, Hermione snatched the _Daily Prophet_ up, from its position on the cluttered coffee table and started attacking every inch of Ron she could get her hands on.

Fresh peals of laughter sounded from the watching children, as Ron flew around the room once again, this time trying to escape the wrath of his wife.

"Honestly," Hermione muttered, flinging the newspaper across the room and missing Ron's face by a fraction. "The sophistication of a five-year-old, he has."

"Hey!" wailed five-year-old James.

"Oh, sweetheart, even you are more mature than my husband," Hermione said, patting James's cheek._  
><em>

"Hey!" Ron echoed childishly.

"See what I mean?"

Without a word, Ron got to his feet and kissed his wife's cheek. She blushed, smiling slightly.

"Ew!" squealed Albus, burying his face in James's shoulder. Hugo keeled over onto his back in a fit of giggles.

"Boys, don't look so revolted. One day, this will be you," Ron told them seriously. He picked Hugo up and tickled his stomach, much to the latter's delight

"I'm never going to kiss a girl," James announced, crossing his arms. "I don't want to get girl germs!"

"That's really not a good thing to say in front of your sister, mate," Teddy supplied warily, just as Lily pounced on James, knocking him down to his back. Rose laughed loudly.

"I don't understand." Ginny shook her head. "It's not like boys are so clean and germ-free, themselves."

"I know!" Hermione agreed. "Merlin, I made the mistake of entering James's and Al's rooms today to tidy up." She shuddered slightly.

"Oh, I try to stay away from that part of the house." Ginny chuckled.

Suddenly, there was a swift knock on the front door.

"I'll get it," Harry said, springing out of his armchair at once.

He unbolted the door and swung it open, coming face-to-face with a grinning George Weasley.

"George, mate, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Harry ushered him, his wife Angelina, and their two children into his house.

"Oh, nothing, really. I closed the shop early—thought I'd stop by and see you and ickle Ronniekins after your mission—and Fred was going crazy—said he and James had some important 'pranking business' to do," George explained. There was a note of distinct pride in his voice.

Harry smiled as he led the family into the sitting room, where havoc seemed to have wreaked during the short time he'd been away.

The children were having a full-on battle of the genders. The females were clearly triumphing. Lily had singled-handedly pinned both Teddy and James to the floor and was now squashing them flat. Rose had Al and Hugo pinned to the wall. And, to top it off, the adults were doing just as badly as the children. Hermione had once again launched into smacking Ron with the newspaper, and Ginny stood in the midst of it all, staring despairingly at her surroundings.

"Weasley war!" Fred hollered, as he and his sister bounded over to join their cousins in their rollicking play.

Harry gazed, stunned, as Ginny spotted him and rushed to his side.

"Harry—help me! They're destroying my living room!" Ginny wailed over the din.

Harry simply watched in amusement Angelina and George too joined Ron and Hermione in their bantering. He grinned in spite of his wife's fury, as, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Roxanne helping Lily take male hostages up to the latter's bedroom.

Silently, he slipped an arm skillfully around his wife's waist, and pulled her close. And, finally, Ginny relaxed, expression softening, as she leaned her head against Harry's shoulder.

"Now, what's this?" Harry murmured, smirking slightly. "Retired professional chaser for the Hollyhead Harpies can't put her family in order? I should tell them to include _that_ in your journalism degree."

She swatted his arm. "Oh, shut up, Potter."

And Harry smiled to himself as he and Ginny seized a couple of old newspapers, accompanying their beloved family in their "Weasley War."

* * *

><p>I love writing about happy times the Trio have in the Next Generation. I mean, come on guys! Give 'em a break; they defeated Voldemort. :)<p> 


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